The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has postponed the recently modified regulation to allow 6 parts per million (ppm) of fluopyram residue in tea due to public apprehension, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.
Concerns were raised over the FDA’s announcement on Wednesday last week that it would modify standards for pesticide residue limits in foods, of particular concern being the increased maximum levels for fluopyram — a fungicide — in tea from 0ppm to 6ppm.
Lawmakers from several political parties, physicians and non-governmental organizations also questioned the FDA’s decision, with some saying that the 6ppm limit is much higher than that of Australia, Japan and the EU.
After a specialists’ meeting at the FDA on Friday to re-evaluate safe levels for fluopyram residue in tea and dimethomorph residue in lettuce, it announced that it considered the levels to be safe for humans and that they would not cause cancer, and said it would not change its original decision.
However, the FDA issued another press release that evening, stating that it would postpone modifying the fluopyram limit for tea.
In response to media queries for comments, Chen said the modification was pre-announced according to formal procedures, and he respects the conclusion the specialists reached.
However, he said the implementation was postponed because of public concern, potential negative effects on tea exports and a lack of urgency for the change.
As the announcement failed to effectively communicate with the public regarding safety, he said the FDA would discuss how to announce modifications to pesticide residue limits with the Council of Agriculture, such as explaining those that significantly differ from standards in other countries, rather than announcing more than 100 items at once.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS